All systems go.......

We now have a date of when we are putting the house on the market.  February 7th should be the date.  So we need to have everything done and sorted out by the 2nd of February, as I am assuming Sarah our real estate agent will be popping by on the 3rd (Sarah if you are reading this could you let me know?) the photographer will be in on the 4th or 5th and the house on the market on the 7th.

Sarah said we should put it on sooner rather than later, as there is very little inventory in our price range and there are qualified buyers out there looking to purchase.  We have had good luck in buying and selling houses in February BUT the weather has never been as bad as what we have at the moment.  I spoke to our farmer friend and he said he would pop by on Friday to have another go at clearing out the driveway so we can get right around the whole "P" shape of it.  As at the moment the curve is all blocked in.

So this week is more cleaning and decluttering and some reno work.  Dh has made a start on putting the baseboard together in the dining room.  That is a difficult job and one I can't finish until he has all the parts up on the wall.

As it is bitter cold here I cannot clean the outside of the windows.....yes I have tried.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to clean the outside of windows when it's crazy cold? 

I need to call in at the grocery store and see if I can scrounge up some boxes as well, as I am running short and have more things I want to pack away.  I really do not want to have to buy flipping boxes.  Do need to purchase packing tape as that is in short supply around here as well.

Otherwise things are pretty quiet around here!!  I missed the email for the book review for last month, but did manage to order some for the coming month.  I have been busy with my Swagbucks after a quiet December of it.  Hoping to get enough saved up for three $5 Amazon e-cards before the end of this month.  Did manage to cash in for the usual $25 in Amazon e-cards this month already.  Not sure what I am saving up for at the moment. If anyone wants to join up to earn free things click on this link.  If anyone has any questions please ask away.

Did manage to put $51 in my 52 weekly pot this week.  I am on schedule with that but not doing it week 1 through 52, just crossing off what money I have against what week there is on the calendar.  You can read more about that challenge here.

Money Challenges.....

At the beginning of the year I started the 52 Week Savings Challenge, this is my sheet so far:

Hopefully you can see; if not I have been concentrating on the lower amount weeks.  I also seem to be ahead of the game for some reason?  I have crossed off 16 weeks and from what I can see we have only gone through 11 weeks of the year so far?  So I may use the next three weeks to put together the $52 and cross that week off.  Once we have paid off the mortgage it will be easier to pay off the larger weeks.  We are down to week 23 this coming Friday until we pay off the mortgage.

I am still doing the sealed pot challenge.  I only put 5, 10 and 25 cents in my pot, but it's feeling a bit heavier than it was at the beginning of the year.  I am dying to open it to count the money; don't worry I won't spend it if I do!!

My Christmas pot is looking healthy; if you remember I put $20 in there a week and already have $260 saved up.  My birthday pot fluctuates but have $140 in there and my "other" pot has $400 in there.  I am currently saving up that money for the wood for the Fall/Winter of 2013/14.  I did just take $150 out of there to pay for the tickets to the Art Gallery Fund raiser we always go to, and I took $20 out of the birthday pot as well to go towards paying for them.

All in all though I am keeping up with the challenges which is a blessing.

I have also brought in $1,100 for the bringing in an extra $2,013 into the household this year.  That includes working and earning money from surveys etc.  So well on my way to completing that challenge as well.

My Amazon account is also up to $125 all due to Swagbucks, so that too is looking healthy.  My goal for the year was $250 in there, so already half way there with that.

Are you participating in any money  saving challenges?

Home of the week and other things

My reaction to this weeks "Home of the Week," was I'll pass.  Just not my cup of tea at all.........

Where to start with this weeks $3.5 million "Condo of the Week."  I am actually speechless; I will be very interested in your reactions to it!!  Look at photo six to see the monogrammed valance?  Also the mirrored tub/bath????  You can even buy the place furnished...........WHY???  

I am taking part in the 52 week challenge as mentioned here.  Figured out what we are going to do with the money saved at the end of the year.  We need a new desktop computer and printer, so fingers crossed we manage to complete the challenge as that money should cover that.  Now we need to figure out how to make our computer last until then.  We have had it a long time and it's a slow as molasses!!

It has turned cold again and we have had snow.  Got the oil tank filled this past week, we had used half a tank of oil between the middle of November through the middle of January, so it cost us just over $462.00.  The oil went up by 5 cents a litre since the middle of November.  Can't seem to win.  However we got our property tax statement in and at least that didn't go up, so that is a blessing.

Oh and Cindy has her post up with all the Ontario Bloggers that participated here: http://justnorthofwiarton.blogspot.ca/2013/01/ontario-bloggers-day.html

A very blah post today, goes with the weather.....